Six UBS Japan Bankers Said to Leave as 7 Hired for Equities

A building housing a branch of UBS AG, right, stands in Tokyo. Photographer: Kiyoshi Ota/Bloomberg

July 4 (Bloomberg) -- Six UBS AG bankers left the
investment banking unit in Japan, said two people familiar with
the situation, and the Swiss firm hired seven people for
equities in the world’s best-performing major stock market.

The investment bankers -- four managing directors and two
executive directors -- left the Japan unit this week, said the
people, who asked not to be identified. Seven were hired for
Japan equity sales and trading, according to an internal memo
obtained by Bloomberg News. Jason Kendy, a Tokyo-based spokesman
for UBS, confirmed the contents of the document.

UBS joins Bank of America Corp. in boosting Japan equity
operations to compete with firms including Nomura Holdings Inc.
on the back of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s economic stimulus
efforts. At the same time, the Zurich-based company is among
banks worldwide that have announced at least 100,000 job cuts in
the past year amid stricter regulations that make their business
less profitable, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

“It’s getting harder for foreign banks to keep an edge in
investment banking in Japan as domestic brokerages and lenders
are becoming more competitive by offering lower fees,” said
Tetsuya Sakabe, managing director at Kanae Associates Ltd., an
executive-search firm specializing in the financial industry.

Eiko Noda, a Tokyo-based spokeswoman for UBS, declined to
comment on the departures.

Global Cuts

The bankers who left covered telecommunications, media and
technology, consumer and financial institutions as well as
equity capital markets and merger advisory businesses, the
people said. Switzerland’s biggest bank released plans last year
to eliminate 10,000 jobs worldwide as it shrinks its investment
banking arm to focus on wealth management.

HSBC Holdings Plc, Commerzbank AG and Royal Bank of
Scotland Group Plc have signaled job reductions since May, as
rules including stricter capital requirements and limits on
trading dent profitability.

The Swiss firm’s reduced headcount in Japan investment
banking comes before Goldman Sachs Group Inc.’s Junya Nishiwaki
joins the firm on Aug. 23 as a managing director and head of the
corporate client solutions division. Nishiwaki, a graduate from
the University of Cambridge, will oversee business including
advising on mergers and acquisitions.

Equity Recruits

UBS hired Philip Denham from Citigroup Inc. as head of cash
trading in Japan and Seth Moran from Barclays Plc for sales
trading business, while Takayuki Inoue also joined from UBS’s
asset management unit, according to the memo. The bank also
hired three sales staff for Japan equities and one person for
execution services.

Japan’s Topix Index has climbed 36 percent this year on
optimism on the prime minister’s policies of fiscal stimulus,
monetary easing and structural reforms -- known as Abenomics --
will beat deflation, weaken the yen and boost economic growth.

“Global investors still focus on Japanese stocks because
of Abenomics, so it’s a bold decision for UBS to return to the
classic business,” Sakabe said.